The Setting
Montrose Beach: land of volleyball, off-leash dogs, and a small mound that, by Chicago standards, qualifies as a mountain. It’s also home to the Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, a 15-acre reserve that welcomes more than 300 avian species a year. A particularly diverse notch is nicknamed the Magic Hedge, which sounds like the title of an as-yet-unproduced Pixar film.
Next to the sanctuary are the Montrose Beach Dunes Natural Area, which include a rare type of wetland habitat, called a panne, found only in the Great Lakes region. In 2001, the Chicago Park District stopped clearing these dunes for recreation, and native plants, insects, and birds (killed off by European settlers) returned to the Cook County shoreline.
The Key Players
• Monty and Rose One of roughly 70 pairs of Great Lakes piping plovers left on the planet. The planet! Just shy of two years ago, they nested at Montrose Beach — the first piping plovers to nest in Chicago since 1955. Name a more iconic duo, we’ll wait.
• Chicago Park District The agency that runs the city’s recreational spaces, including parks (obviously), pools, field houses, two botanical conservatories, Lincoln Park Zoo, and, yes, Montrose Beach. They also employed the cast of The Real World: Chicago back in 2001.
• Conservationists You know, the die-hard environmentalists every first grader thinks they’ll grow up to be. This includes Leslie Borns, longtime nature enthusiast and birdwatcher.
The Predicament
Monty and Rose have nested (and raised chicks!) at Montrose Beach for two summers now. Given how endangered plovers are, this is a huge deal to naturalists. So huge that their presence (in part) prompted the cancellation of the music festival Mamby on the Beach in 2019. (Crazy how North Siders became ornithology advocates just as a two-day concert moved to their patch of lakefront, right?) And the 2020 beach closures meant Monty and Rose could really live it up, human-free.
But in normal times, their foraging area is a popular spot for volleyball, merrymaking, etc. Birders worry increased human presence will keep Monty and Rose away or, worse, pose a threat to their oh-so-precious chicks.
The Proposal
Add an acre of foraging beach onto the Montrose Beach Dunes Natural Area. This year, conservationists hope to formalize the habitat — ideally encouraging more plovers to nest at Montrose in the years to come. Last summer, Borns submitted a proposal to expand the dunes, which wouldn’t ban people from the area, just from playing sports there.
Park officials maintain they’re reviewing the expansion request and are “fully committed to protecting the plovers.” And it’s true, the Montrose Beach Dunes Natural Area was expanded in 2011 and 2015 — there’s a chance the park district will be like, “Hey, birds, enough’s enough, enjoy your generous acreage.” There’s no timeline for when a decision will be made.
The Stakes
Once upon a time, 500 to 800 pairs of plovers nested on Great Lakes shores. Then we started hunting them for their feathers — for hats — and destroyed natural habitats to make recreational beach space. By the ’80s, there were only around 13 pairs of Great Lakes plovers left total. Not only are Monty and Rose precious little creatures, but they’re powerful, too, as they’ve got the Endangered Species Act on their side.
Oh, and another thing: Lake Michigan water levels are rising. That’s bad news for the park district and the plovers alike, as recreational and nesting space are both limited. Is the city willing to give up an acre of its dwindling volleyball beach for two birds who can’t even vote? Birdwatchers will be watching.
You can build a volleyball court plenty of places around town.
You can’t save a declining species by eating up ideal nesting habitat.
Montrose’s reputation as a critical spot for migratory birds is known well past the city limits.
I hope the park district comes to the right conclusion.
Do everything it takes to protect these critically endangered birds. Volleyball can wait. Festivals can wait. Leave the right legacy, that of protecting and preserving that which was brought to the brink of extinction.
Chicago Park District, protect Monty and Rose, protect their delicate habitat.
I wonder if the author reached out to the scientists and professionsal personel from state and federal agencies behind the efforts to save the Great Lakes Piping Plover population.
The effort to provide a safe environment for the Plovers goes beyond North Shore birders. Rather birders and conservationists from all over the Great Lakes area are behind saving the Piping Plover.
As a volleyball enthusiast, sand courts and grass courts can be installed anywhere. Dedicating precious waterfront to one sport is just, well, selfish. Let’s do something unselfish for a change and help the lakefront return to its natural state. Everyone benefits and can get behind that effort.
Thanks for your realization and sensitivity around the conservation of habitats and tiny feathered beings.
Shame on you. You have no idea what highly dedicated people did to preserve this site and protect these creatures. Arrogant fool.
I don’t agree that the Dunes advocates are “Northsiders” just recently becoming birding experts right before a concert. Yes, some north side neighbors concerned about concert noise also attended meetings but they were not at the forefront of this dune habitat recovery. Let’s not belittle but honor the thousands of VOLUNTEER hours that have made the stewardship of Montrose Dunes their life’s work. It’s been studied by conservationists around the country and no one mentions “Northsiders.” The federally endangered piping plovers selected this specific nesting location ONLY because of decades of advocacy and stewardship. Volunteers have very patiently worked with agencies and vendors while they suggested not just huge concerts but floating bars and inflatable water parks without even acknowledging the Dunes. Montrose Dunes natural area became what it is because conservationists asked the park district to stop grooming a small section of sand around 20+ years ago. In 2005 Illinois Department of Natural Resources added it to their the statewide list of high-quality natural areas known as the Illinois Natural Areas Inventory (INAI). According the Illinois Audubon website the Magic Hedge bird sanctuary was officially recognized as an important bird area by 2001. So again, bird advocacy at the dunes is not restricted to one segment of the population and it did not just appear when the plovers did.
There is also the issue of the writer pitting humans against nature. Its not either or. It’s not one vs the other. It’s an old, tired, lazy argument the writer makes when using conservation or heavy recreation the only two options. The plovers aren’t little game pieces. Their nests and chicks represent the return of dozens of expatriated species from Chicago and Cook County. Its awesome and it should be celebrated, not turned into a show down.
it’s blank next to “illustration by” – who did the drawing? pretty cool!
The plovers are a gift to Chicago, and we should be protecting their habitat. There’s plenty of other space we’ve encroached upon elsewhere to add volleyball space. The protection and expansion of Montrose beach for birding is essential for the birds and for our future generations.
Leslie Borns has been instrumental and has inspired so many others! There are many, many Chicago area birders, citizens, and various organizations that have demonstrated their concern for these natural areas. To Leslie and all of them, thank you! Montrose Point is a key destination for migrating birds and the natural areas also host other year-round birds, wildlife, and plants. Like other commenters have noted, most of the public is curious about and, when educated, supportive of protecting these areas. Hopefully the Park District will provide other areas for the beach-goers and sand volleyball courts so that the nature will continue to have this beautiful protected area.
I would never spend money to come to Illinois to play volleyball but I would—and have—spent money to bird around Chicago—including the splendid Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary—and it’s suburbs.
And more land dedicated to wildlife is never a bad thing.
The bird sanctuary at Montrose is an attraction that draws people from around the midwest and even the world. My friend’s son is into birding and turned 12 this fall. His grandparents offered to take him anywhere in the lower 48 states for a special trip and he chose to come to Montrose. I had the joy in showing him around and helping him add a number of birds to his “life list.” Before moving to Chicago, I never thought of this as a place with many natural areas, but there are a surprising number of wonderful parks throughout the city and suburban Cook County, and Montrose is the crown jewel. Let’s commit to doing all we can to preserving and expanding these important habitats so that my friend’s son can one day bring his kids and grandkids to experience their beauty.
We’ve taken enough space from wildlife. We can give some back. They deserve our honor and respect in their fight for survival against all odds.
We should be honored to host these endangered cuties and do everything we can to help their species. Thank you for the article!
The plovers are not a predicament but an absolute blessing. We are lucky to have any plovers at the rate birds and insects are disappearing. The creation and preservation of native habitat should be the number one priority of any park district or we will very shortly find ourselves without any green space to enjoy or the birds, bees, insects and pollinators they support.
“(Crazy how North Siders became ornithology advocates just as a two-day concert moved to their patch of lakefront, right?)”
Cheap, stupid dig. If the author had done just a smidgen of research she would have learned that the maintenance and protection of the Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary–as well as several other north side locations–has been important to North Siders, and occurring for decades. Montrose Point and beach is a world famous birding location (certainly not as a concert venue, or even a fun beach to play on), visited by thousands each year seeking to witness the spectacle of bird migration.
Might make for a nice story some time.
Greg Neise
American Birding Association
Owner, Chicago Birding Network
And then immediately contradicted themselves by saying the bird sanctuary was expanded in 2011 and 2015.
These stories on Monty and Rose pump up the drama for a good story arch, but the true takeaway for anyone out there is the genuine excitement, pride, and comradery these birds have brought to Chicagoans who are lucky enough to visit Montrose beach. I probably spoke to over a hundred strangers about what was going on in my two summers volunteering and it was a truly awesome experience. Everyone is excited to learn about these endangered cuties. Even the volleyball players were totally on-board from my experience.
Just to pile on, the volleyball players use this bit of beach for a few hours a few evenings a week. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the Park District puts these two needs in the scale and goes “Oooh, tough call!” But seriously.
The park district can create sand courts for volleyball anywhere on the rest of the park. Why not create them on the expansive lawn areas? The shoreline should be dedicated to the wildlife whenever it shows up. With the rising of lake levels we can expect a smaller area for the plovers to forage on. Biodiversity should be priority one for the Parks District, humans can adapt to the changes.
I agree with making wildlife our first priority when it goes to lake front.